When Panthers’ offensive starters rested, things went sour. And then Matt Corral got hurt
We were reminded of a few things in the Carolina Panthers’ 20-10 lukewarm loss to New England on Friday night, and one of them was this: When neither one of your top two quarterbacks play, it’s awfully hard to score points.
The Panthers’ only touchdown came on a 50-yard interception return by Appalachian State product Tae Hayes, who helped his chances of making the team. Other than that, with presumptive starter Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold both sitting out the game as a precaution, Carolina could manage only a field goal in 13 offensive possessions and was actually outscored by New England’s defense.
A piece of even worse news developed late in the game when rookie quarterback Matt Corral got stepped on and ended up with a badly injured foot. The third-round draft pick out of Ole Miss limped off the field and was diagnosed Saturday with a Lisfranc injury, almost certainly ending his first NFL season before it really began.
“I hate it for him,” Panther coach Matt Rhule said Saturday of Corral. “I thought he was playing well, too.”
So, offensively, it was a nasty day for a variety of reasons Friday.
“I know it’s a bit slow here tonight,” Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer admitted of his team’s offense while making a guest appearance in Carolina’s TV broadcast booth.
Fitterer quickly promised better things ahead when players like Mayfield, DJ Moore, Christian McCaffrey and Robbie Anderson suit up for the real games, which start Sept. 11. But in the meantime, Friday night’s game was a slog, with nearly all of Carolina’s starters sitting out. Some of them, at least, will play in the Panthers’ third and final exhibition Friday in Charlotte against Buffalo — and given Carolina’s sudden quarterback shortage, you can bet that both Mayfield and Darnold play with the best offensive linemen the Panthers can muster.
Some of the most interesting commentary Friday night came in the TV booth, where former Carolina star wide receiver Steve Smith opined about the QB job. Like most everyone, Smith believes Mayfield has won the job and it’s only a matter of days or hours before it’s officially announced. Rhule said Saturday he wasn’t yet ready to make that announcement.
As for Smith’s opinion on the quarterbacks:
No. 89 said Mayfield has charisma, swagger, a John Wayne mentality and compared his moxie to that of former Panther quarterback Jake Delhomme.
Smith also tried for a while to praise Darnold, saying he would be an “excellent backup quarterback.” But, Smith added, Darnold rarely does anything to wow you.
“Sam Darnold — he’s going to put you to sleep, reading a book,” Smith said. “We don’t need any librarians. We need some people out here who are going to help us win football games.”
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The Panthers won only five games last year, for the second straight season. When you see their starters play, you figure they’ll win several more than that in 2022.
But when you see only backups, like Friday night, it looks like more of the same — especially on offense. This is a team that really needs to stay healthy — and needs first-round draft choice and starting left tackle Ickey Ekwonu to get better in pass protection quickly. Ekwonu gave up a sack Friday and had several other iffy plays.
New England scored a late touchdown to clinch this one when Carolina quarterback PJ Walker (who had three turnovers) lost the ball in his own end zone under heavy duress and saw his fumble recovered for a TD.
Corral, who played 31 snaps to Walker’s 30 Friday, was supposed to play more. He was scheduled to play the entire fourth quarter, but was taken out late in the period after limping off the field with his foot injury, which occurred when he was stepped on deep in his own end zone. He left the stadium in a walking boot. Rhule said veteran special-teamers J.J. Jansen and Johnny Hekker gave up their first-class seats on the team plane back to Charlotte so that Corral and running back Spencer Brown (ankle injury) could sit up front.
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Done no favors by Carolina’s third-string offensive line, Walker turned the ball over on each of the Panthers’ last two possessions.
Walker said he made “two bad throws that got away from me” in the game, both of which were intercepted, and that he couldn’t afford to do that “with the situation I’m in.” Although Walker started this game, he will likely be released on the final cut to 53 players on the active roster. Even though Corral will no longer count on the 53-man minimum, it’s quite possible Carolina will now go with just Mayfield and Darnold on the active roster and use the other spot for a special-teamer.
As for the players who will be on that 53-man roster: more than half of them watched this one from the sideline in street clothes. And their absence was sorely felt.
Good thing, for the Panthers, that this one didn’t count. Unfortunately for Corral, one more long-standing NFL exhibition lesson evidence Friday night.
While the preseason games are ultimately fake, the injuries are very real.
This story was originally published August 20, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
